Web spreader



United States Patent Inventor Thomas J. Crowe 45 Concord Road, Dover, NJ. 07801 Appl. No. 821,333 Filed May 2, 1969 Patented Dec. 15, 1970 WEB SPREADER 4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl zz ss; 26/54, 226/170, 226/174 Int. Cl. B65h 23/02 Field of Search 226/170,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,288,643 12/1918 Mayer 226/170X 2,618,012 11/1952 Milne 26/57 2,841,820 7/1958 Pfeiffer 26/54X Primary Examiner-Richard A. Schacher Attorney-Popper, Bain & Bobis ABSTRACT: A device for spreading long strips or sheets to remove longitudinal wrinkles by frictional engagement with the top of a continuous loop web, wherein the web is transversely expanded by belts on its inner surface, which belts are compelled to pursue first a diverging course by offset pulleys on which the belts run.

PATENIEU 05m 5 I970 I N VENTOR. THOMAS J. CROWE m N mm imm A T TORNE YS WEB SPREADER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION l. Field of Invention This invention relates generally to spreaders, and particularly to an elastomeric web running from a roller to a roller. al-

ternately expanding and contracting laterally.

2. Prior Art Spreaders are well known and widely used in many industries. They stretch fabrics to their fullest extent for printing thereon, for flame or adhesive bonding to urethane foam. They are used to make sheet material roll up flat without longitudinal wrinkles.

Spreaders sometimes operate with peripheral pins that seize and stretch the material. At other times, they have segments which by reason of periodic axial or radial displacement, cause the material to stretch or spread.

These devices sometimes fail to spread the material, or stretch it laterally, or tear it, and cause loss. The problem of removing longitudinal wrinkles from sheet material presents many difficult problems. The wrinkles must be removed promptly before the sheet or film takes a permanent set, which would make it useless.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION laterally during contact. The precise degree of lateral expansion can be precisely controlled by belt enlargements on the inside of the elastomeric loop. The belts are made to diverge and converge by offset pulleys.

DRAWINGS These objects and advantages, as well as other objects and advantages may be attained by the apparatus shown by'way of j illustration in the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of an expander, partially sectioned; and

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2-2 in FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings in detail, the web spreader provides a support 11 which carries a mounting 12 for front bearings 13 and rear bearings 14 at its outer ends. A front shaft 15 is rotatably mounted on the front bearings 13, and a rear shaft 16 is rotatably carried by the rear bearing 14. The rear shaft 16 also carries a drive pulley 17 at one end to drive the shaft 16.

Each of the shafts 15,16 carries a support roller 18. At the opposite ends of the support roller 18 on the rear shaft 16, pulleys 19 are mounted, keyed to the shaft 16, but axially movable on the keys 20, so that each pulley 19 may be moved inwardly or outwardly on the shaft 16. The position of the pulleys is governed by arms 21, pivotably mounted on the support 11. These arms carry pressure plates 22 which engage the inner side of the pulleys l9 and urge them axially outward on the shaft 16. A belt 23 is carried by each of the pulleys 19. The

belts 19 are formed integrally with an endless web 24, which embraces the rollers 18. The belts 19 may also be made separate from the web 24 and be bonded thereto. The web 24 and the belt 19 are made of an elastomeric material such as rubber, synthetic rubber, or the like. The belts also run over pulleys 25 on the front shaft 12.

The pulleys 19,25 are normally directly opposite each other on the shafts 15.16. The pressure plates 22 may, however. urge the pulleys 19 axially outwardly on the shaft 16. In so being urged, the belts 23 stretch the web 24 so that as it travels from the roller 18 on the shaft 15 to the roller 18 on the shaft 16, the web 24 spreads wider since the belts 23 are diverging as they move from pulley 25 to pulley 19.

The reverse is also true. As the belts 23 return from the pulley 19 to the pulley 25, they converge on each other, and the elastomeric web 24 becomes narrow again.

lthas been noted that the position of the pulleys 19,19 are controlled by the pressure plates 22,22, moved by the arms 21,21. The positions of the arms 21 are adjusted by rotation of the rod 26, each end of which is in threaded engagement with a connector 27 pivotably attached to the arms 21. As the rod 26 is rotated, the connectors (they are reversely threaded) move simultaneously outward, or simultaneously inward. A worm on the axle 28 engages a gear section 29 on the rod 26 in order to rotate it. A worm on the axle 30 rotates the axle 28. The crank 31 can, therefore, accomplish the adjustment of the pulleys 19 with great precision and control the width of the elastomeric web 24, varying it from a uniform width throughout its entire loop from shaft 15 to shaft 16, to a greater width at shaft 16. It can now be seen that a plastic sheet in strip or film may be led from a feed spool into contact first with the web 24 on the axle 15, the sheet moving with the web in the direction of the arrow toward the axle 16, then leaving the web 24 onto a takeup spool. As the web stretches laterally, the plastic strip or film, in frictional contact with the expanding web, is also expanded. Longitudinal wrinkles in the strip or film are removed, and the plastic strip or film goes into a takeup spool free of longitudinal wrinkles. Because the web 24 can be precisely adjusted as to its degree of stretch, the wrinkles can be removed without stretching or stressing the plastic widthwise. Just enough expansion of the web 24 can be provided to remove the longitudinal wrinkles and to flatten the material. Woven and unwoven fabrics, paper, tapes, and other similar materials may also be treated.

The foregoing description is merely intended to illustrate an embodiment of the invention. The component parts have been shown and described. They each may have substitutes which may perform a substantially similar function; such substitutes may be known as proper substitutesfor the said components and may have actually been known or invented before the present invention.

I claim:

I. A spreader comprising:

a. a continuous loop of elastomeric material;

b. a pair of belts attached to the inside of the loop;

c. a first and second rollers within the loop and supporting the loop for rotation with the rollers;

d. means for driving the rollers;

e. a pair of fixed pulleys on the first roller, each positioned to carry one of the pair of belts; I f. a pair of movable pulleys on the second roller; each positioned to carry one of the belts, and each pulley normally in general registration with the corresponding opposite pulley on the first roller; and means to move the pulleys on the second roller in an outward direction toward the ends of the roller, whereby the loop attached to the belts is laterally enlarged as the diverging belts move from the pulleys on the first to the pulleys on the second roller, and the loop is laterally contracted as the loop moves back from the pulleys on the second roller to the pulleys on the first roller.

2. A spreader comprising: a. the device according to claim 1; and b. the belts attached to the elastomeric loop in general parallelism with each other when the loop is not elastically deformed.

3. A spreader comprising: a. the device according to claim 1; and b. the movable pulleys on the second roller keyed to rotate with the second roller.

4. A spreader according to claim 1 in which the means to move the pulleys on the second roller comprises:

a. a pivotable arm for each pulley;

b. pressure plates on the end of each arm engaged with the pulleys; and

c. means to pivot the arms axially with respect to the roller,

and to urge the pulleys outwardly. 

